NFL issues statement on Deflategate investigation

Posted by Michael David Smith on January 23, 2015, 1:46 PM EST

Getty Images

The NFL issued the following statement on Friday afternoon in response to inquiries about “Deflategate”:

“Our office has been conducting an investigation as to whether the footballs used in last Sunday’s AFC Championship Game complied with the specifications that are set forth in the playing rules. The investigation began based on information that suggested that the game balls used by the New England Patriots were not properly inflated to levels required by the playing rules, specifically Playing Rule 2, Section 1, which requires that the ball be inflated to between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds per square inch. Prior to the game, the game officials inspect the footballs to be used by each team and confirm that this standard is satisfied, which was done before last Sunday’s game.

“The investigation is being led jointly by NFL Executive Vice President Jeff Pash and Ted Wells of the law firm of Paul Weiss. Mr. Wells and his firm bring additional expertise and a valuable independent perspective. The investigation began promptly on Sunday night. Over the past several days, nearly 40 interviews have been conducted, including of Patriots personnel, game officials, and third parties with relevant information and expertise. We have obtained and are continuing to obtain additional information, including video and other electronic information and physical evidence. We have retained Renaissance Associates, an investigatory firm with sophisticated forensic expertise to assist in reviewing electronic and video information.

“The playing rules are intended to protect the fairness and integrity of our games. We take seriously claims that those rules have been violated and will fully investigate this matter without compromise or delay. The investigation is ongoing, will be thorough and objective, and is being pursued expeditiously. In the coming days, we expect to conduct numerous additional interviews, examine video and other forensic evidence, as well as relevant physical evidence. While the evidence thus far supports the conclusion that footballs that were under-inflated were used by the Patriots in the first half, the footballs were properly inflated for the second half and confirmed at the conclusion of the game to have remained properly inflated. The goals of the investigation will be to determine the explanation for why footballs used in the game were not in compliance with the playing rules and specifically whether any noncompliance was the result of deliberate action. We have not made any judgments on these points and will not do so until we have concluded our investigation and considered all of the relevant evidence.

“Upon being advised of the investigation, the Patriots promptly pledged their full cooperation and have made their personnel and other information available to us upon request. Our investigation will seek information from any and all relevant sources and we expect full cooperation from other clubs as well. As we develop more information and are in a position to reach conclusions, we will share them publicly.”

248 responses to “NFL issues statement on Deflategate investigation”

The effect of temperature on football inflation.
Assume that the game footballs were inflated in a 75 F degree locker room, then taken out to a playing field at a temperature of 50 degrees F. How much would the change in temperature decrease the pressure in the football?
High school physics tells us that the ideal gas law PV=nRT applies. That is, pressure times volume is equal to the number of moles times the gas constant times the temperature of the gas (in degrees Kelvin). Thus, given a constant amount of air in the football and a negligible volume change, the pressure will obey:
P = nRT/V
The change in pressure is thus proportional to the change in temperature,
The 75 degree locker room has an absolute temperature of 297o K
The 40 degree playing field has an absolute temperature of 283o K
The change in temperature of 14o K will thus cause a drop in pressure of 14/297 = 4.7%.
To translate this into a pressure change we must recall that football pressure is measured in gauge pressure, relative to the atmospheric pressure of 15 psi. So the absolute pressure within a football pumped to 13 psi is 13 +15 = 28psi absolute. The 4.7% drop applied to the absolute pressure gives a drop of 1.32 psi. Thus, the pressure within the football at game time will be only 13 -1.32 = 11.68 psi and thus well below regulation gauge pressure of 12.5-13.5psi. If they were just at 12.5psi to start they would be down by 1.3psi to 11.2psi by game time. And of course, a little pressure is lost every time you stick a needle in to check the pressure. Some guy on TV did this calculation but I think he forgot about absolute pressure vs gauge pressure and underestimated it.
It thus seems highly likely that the Patriots equipment manager checked all 12 balls in a warm locker room and they lost pressure merely by cooling off on the field. In addition, the cold rain would have accelerated the heat transfer out of the balls. Finally, if the indoor inflation air was very humid, there would be an additional loss of pressure due to water vapor condensation on the inside of the bladder as the temperature of the football dropped.

Sounds like the Patriots are making everything available, and the league investigation at least acknowledges that the ball inflation levels could have resulted without deliberate action on anyone;s part.

“The goals of the investigation will be to determine the explanation for why footballs used in the game were not in compliance with the playing rules and specifically whether any noncompliance was the result of deliberate action.”

Rogue ball boy strikes again. Shockingly according to the Patriots he did it on his own accord and has been promptly dismissed. Phew!

The deflate probably has been going on for all games this year depending on conditions. The ball boy just knows what to do, but someone had to tell them and you know they had practiced how to do it. Someone did it and it was not the BUTLER.

Amusing how the half where Brady went wild was when they were correctly inflated. Sort of makes people acting like he only did well because of this look foolish.

This is a story because of the sheer fact they tried to cheat and they deserve to punished for that but people need to cool it with the implication that they only humiliated Indy because of this. As seen here, this had nothing to do with that given the destruction started in the second half and Brady was mediocre in the first half with the altered balls.

So what you’re saying is, “We will reveal results until after the Super Bowl. Probably around the time of Baseball Spring Training, or even after the NFL draft, to ensure we remain relevant for the entire calendar year.”

Sidebar: Interesting that the balls were inflated to spec at time of inspection. Report of deflation during first half. Inflated the ball at half time to spec. Ball remained within spec after the game was over. So as the evening goes on and the temperature declines, the ball remained inflated… Hmmm…

Enough is enough; this, to me, is the last straw; I think the only recourse a fan has is to boycott the Super Bowl. Several of my friends are saying that’s exactly what they are doing. I’ll most-likely join them.

Translation: More time will mellow the public’s interest. As the social media outcry wanes, we will then release our very thorough, completely independent report which will conclude that there is no tangible evidence the balls were intentionally tampered with.

Makes no mention of whether or not the balls were measured for pressure before the ggame, or if the officials merly gave them the ol squeeze check & eyeball check for irregularities. If all the balls were similar in feel, then it’s not surprising that they didn’t question them, nor why would they. If after some whining by the opposition, they checked the balls more thoroughly and foound them to be under inflated, then they aired them up and went back to business.

danyod says:
Jan 23, 2015 1:49 PM
The effect of temperature on football inflation.
Assume that the game footballs were inflated in a 75 F degree locker room, then taken out to a playing field at a temperature of 50 degrees F. How much would the change in temperature decrease the pressure in the football?
High school physics tells us that the ideal gas law PV=nRT applies. That is, pressure times volume is equal to the number of moles times the gas constant times the temperature of the gas (in degrees Kelvin). Thus, given a constant amount of air in the football and a negligible volume change, the pressure will obey:
P = nRT/V
The change in pressure is thus proportional to the change in temperature,
The 75 degree locker room has an absolute temperature of 297o K
The 40 degree playing field has an absolute temperature of 283o K
The change in temperature of 14o K will thus cause a drop in pressure of 14/297 = 4.7%.
To translate this into a pressure change we must recall that football pressure is measured in gauge pressure, relative to the atmospheric pressure of 15 psi. So the absolute pressure within a football pumped to 13 psi is 13 +15 = 28psi absolute. The 4.7% drop applied to the absolute pressure gives a drop of 1.32 psi. Thus, the pressure within the football at game time will be only 13 -1.32 = 11.68 psi and thus well below regulation gauge pressure of 12.5-13.5psi. If they were just at 12.5psi to start they would be down by 1.3psi to 11.2psi by game time. And of course, a little pressure is lost every time you stick a needle in to check the pressure. Some guy on TV did this calculation but I think he forgot about absolute pressure vs gauge pressure and underestimated it.
It thus seems highly likely that the Patriots equipment manager checked all 12 balls in a warm locker room and they lost pressure merely by cooling off on the field. In addition, the cold rain would have accelerated the heat transfer out of the balls. Finally, if the indoor inflation air was very humid, there would be an additional loss of pressure due to water vapor condensation on the inside of the bladder as the temperature of the football dropped.

_______________________________

You may want to go revisit high school science, the 12 Colts balls were fine and would have lost pressure the same way if the weather was a factor. Someone tampered with the balls stop being a blind patsie.

As usual the National Fantasy League is giving us nothing but mumbo and jumbo and delaying this to after the Super Bowl. They do not want to make any decisions until after the Super Bowl so as not to have to suspend anyone for the Super Bowl. They look so foolish to anyone with half a brain.

there is no official report that the colts balls were tested with a comparison of what they were before the game and at the half, its very possible the colts balls deflated and were still within the legal limit had they inflated to the higher range of what is permitted

as well we don’t know if the colts balls were kept indoors as they travel with the team and may have been outside with the equipment manager prior to the game unlike the pats who would have had them stored inside as they were the home team

The Pat’s balls (not the Colts) were tampered with.
Someone made this happen.
People generally act in their own self interest.
Logic says someone wanted the Pats to have an advantage.
Are we to believe the Coach and QB don’t know who this is?

BTW-the referees handle the balls. Are we to believe they didn’t notice anything? This is about more than one game sports fans.

@daynod 1:49PM using your rather exrensive formulas could you please enlighten all of us on how the 12 balls that were checked and properly inflatedl as far as psi and used in the second half of the game remained properly inflated as the temp logically would have dropped throughout the day. What changed with your formulas?

The statement is a setup for the NFL to do absolutely nothing about the Pats cheating. Brady and Belecheat lied throughout their press conferences, but Brady took his lying to a new level..If anyone bought anything Brady said, then it is truly a sad world. I, for one am tired of these people thinking they are above the rules. They are paid millions of dollars to play a game, and they act like petulant children. I used to be a fan of the NFL, no matter who was playing. I won’t be watching any more. It is really sad how far the players and coaches will go, to just get a minimal advantage, and the Commissioner is truly a disgrace to the game.

“As we have demonstrated in the past in situations like the non existent walkthrough tapes we forced them to respond to, we reserve the right to wait for the time it most impacts the Patriots and then force them to respond.”

Yes, this is legitimate, however, given the abundant years of cold weather games (many being WELL below 50 degrees) wouldn’t you suppose there would be more instances of this reported?

Also I take your for a thinking man, so lets consider Occam’s razor; it is the simplest explanation that the Patriots cheated. While not damning evidence, they put themselves toeing the line far too often for this to be a far fetched allegation.

One quick side note, your equation does not account for the fact that the ball is in hand at least 80 percent of the time; with hands being warm, and your equation being based on a curve that is constant (which it wasn’t), I am not sure the net change is the full 1.32 psi.

The effect of temperature on football inflation.
Assume that the game footballs were inflated in a 75 F degree locker room, then taken out to a playing field at a temperature of 50 degrees F. How much would the change in temperature decrease the pressure in the football?
High school physics tells us that the ideal gas law PV=nRT applies. That is, pressure times volume is equal to the number of moles times the gas constant times the temperature of the gas (in degrees Kelvin). Thus, given a constant amount of air in the football and a negligible volume change, the pressure will obey:
P = nRT/V
The change in pressure is thus proportional to the change in temperature,
The 75 degree locker room has an absolute temperature of 297o K
The 40 degree playing field has an absolute temperature of 283o K
The change in temperature of 14o K will thus cause a drop in pressure of 14/297 = 4.7%.
To translate this into a pressure change we must recall that football pressure is measured in gauge pressure, relative to the atmospheric pressure of 15 psi. So the absolute pressure within a football pumped to 13 psi is 13 +15 = 28psi absolute. The 4.7% drop applied to the absolute pressure gives a drop of 1.32 psi. Thus, the pressure within the football at game time will be only 13 -1.32 = 11.68 psi and thus well below regulation gauge pressure of 12.5-13.5psi. If they were just at 12.5psi to start they would be down by 1.3psi to 11.2psi by game time. And of course, a little pressure is lost every time you stick a needle in to check the pressure. Some guy on TV did this calculation but I think he forgot about absolute pressure vs gauge pressure and underestimated it.
It thus seems highly likely that the Patriots equipment manager checked all 12 balls in a warm locker room and they lost pressure merely by cooling off on the field. In addition, the cold rain would have accelerated the heat transfer out of the balls. Finally, if the indoor inflation air was very humid, there would be an additional loss of pressure due to water vapor condensation on the inside of the bladder as the temperature of the football dropped.

******************************************

And yet again another person ignores the fact that only 11 out of 12 dropped over 2 psi and 0 out of 36 other balls, including the Patriots backup balls, the Colts game balls and the Colts backup balls did not experience such a drop in pressure. So, unless they were keeping the Pats game balls somewhere with completely different conditions than the rest of the field, there is no way the conditions would only affect those 11 balls.

Brady was instrumental in helping craft the current rules regarding the entire convoluted process of how game balls are handled for each offense. This happened in 2006 ! This has probably been going on for years. Brady was in on the ground floor to set up the current rules. Leaving the balls unchecked for over 2 hours before game time and in the possession of each offense ? Tom,please explain ?

cheating is one thing lying to the public is worse. Both should have to sit out the next game. sorry but if brady punched gisele he would be barred from the game on Sunday and if he broke the rules knowingly before the AFC championship he doesn’t deserve to play because from a football point of view that is way more damaging to the game than off the field incidents.

to all the people throwing out mathematically equations to justify loss in pressure.how about the logical explanation. colts balls did not lose pressure.so the cold and wet theory is horse hockey.a little common sense on this issue would go a long way

patsfan24 says:
Jan 23, 2015 1:58 PM
“… the footballs were properly inflated for the second half and confirmed at the conclusion of the game to have remained properly inflated.”

Now, all you haters, please go do some research on TB’s 1st half stats vs. his 2nd half stats. Idiots.

———————

Pats fans just don’t get it. It’s not about if the deflated balls helped the Pats win that game. The Pats would have won that game no matter what. It’s the pattern of behavior from an organization that consistently shows that they feel they are above the rules of the game.

So why didn’t the same thing happen to the Colts’ footballs?
**********************************
If Sir danyod’s calculations and projections are indeed accurate) then I would surmise the difference is that SOMEONE associated with the Patriots deflated their game Balls to MINIMUM specs (12.5) to begin with, and the Colts perhaps did not.

The info I have NOT seen (unless I missed it) is what level the officials check for when the validate them all.

Are they validated to be set to 12.5? 13.0? 13.5? Seems to me if what danyod is saying is truly accurate, then EVERY dang time a team plays a cold weather game the balls would be under inflated by halftime.. and significantly MORE so then when it is a mild 50 degrees outside.

The effect of temperature on football inflation.
Assume that the game footballs were inflated in a 75 F degree locker room, then taken out to a playing field at a temperature of 50 degrees F. How much would the change in temperature decrease the pressure in the football?
High school physics tells us that the ideal gas law PV=nRT applies. That is, pressure times volume is equal to the number of moles times the gas constant times the temperature of the gas (in degrees Kelvin). Thus, given a constant amount of air in the football and a negligible volume change, the pressure will obey:
P = nRT/V
The change in pressure is thus proportional to the change in temperature,
The 75 degree locker room has an absolute temperature of 297o K
The 40 degree playing field has an absolute temperature of 283o K
The change in temperature of 14o K will thus cause a drop in pressure of 14/297 = 4.7%.
To translate this into a pressure change we must recall that football pressure is measured in gauge pressure, relative to the atmospheric pressure of 15 psi. So the absolute pressure within a football pumped to 13 psi is 13 +15 = 28psi absolute. The 4.7% drop applied to the absolute pressure gives a drop of 1.32 psi. Thus, the pressure within the football at game time will be only 13 -1.32 = 11.68 psi and thus well below regulation gauge pressure of 12.5-13.5psi. If they were just at 12.5psi to start they would be down by 1.3psi to 11.2psi by game time. And of course, a little pressure is lost every time you stick a needle in to check the pressure. Some guy on TV did this calculation but I think he forgot about absolute pressure vs gauge pressure and underestimated it.
It thus seems highly likely that the Patriots equipment manager checked all 12 balls in a warm locker room and they lost pressure merely by cooling off on the field. In addition, the cold rain would have accelerated the heat transfer out of the balls. Finally, if the indoor inflation air was very humid, there would be an additional loss of pressure due to water vapor condensation on the inside of the bladder as the temperature of the football dropped.

so what your saying is that in this whole equation that only the patriots balls lossed air and not the colts. because if said equation worked for patriots it would have been true for both teams correct??

It’s pretty clear that Goodell and Kraft are buddy-buddy. I would venture to say much more than any other owner is with Goodell.

So I did a little experiment and by way of a google image search of “Roger Goodell and Robert Kraft”. No surprise that there were lots of images of the two of them together that showed up. And this was not different angles from the same press conference. There were pictures of them together all over. Press conferences, on the field, etc.

So I decided to do google image searches on “Roger Goodell and (other NFL owners)”. Aside from Jerry Jones, you will not find much visual evidence of Goodell hanging around the other owners. And if you do, you’ll see Kraft and or Jones in the pic as well.

So I assume that cheating to increase your chances of making the Super Bowl will not preclude you from making the Super Bowl since this investigation will not be concluded in time to get Seattle another opponent.

The effect of temperature on football inflation.
Assume that the game footballs were inflated in a 75 F degree locker room, then taken out to a playing field at a temperature of 50 degrees F. How much would the change in temperature decrease the pressure in the football?
High school physics tells us that the ideal gas law PV=nRT applies. That is, pressure times volume is equal to the number of moles times the gas constant times the temperature of the gas (in degrees Kelvin). Thus, given a constant amount of air in the football and a negligible volume change, the pressure will obey:
P = nRT/V
The change in pressure is thus proportional to the change in temperature,
The 75 degree locker room has an absolute temperature of 297o K
The 40 degree playing field has an absolute temperature of 283o K
The change in temperature of 14o K will thus cause a drop in pressure of 14/297 = 4.7%.
To translate this into a pressure change we must recall that football pressure is measured in gauge pressure, relative to the atmospheric pressure of 15 psi. So the absolute pressure within a football pumped to 13 psi is 13 +15 = 28psi absolute. The 4.7% drop applied to the absolute pressure gives a drop of 1.32 psi. Thus, the pressure within the football at game time will be only 13 -1.32 = 11.68 psi and thus well below regulation gauge pressure of 12.5-13.5psi. If they were just at 12.5psi to start they would be down by 1.3psi to 11.2psi by game time. And of course, a little pressure is lost every time you stick a needle in to check the pressure. Some guy on TV did this calculation but I think he forgot about absolute pressure vs gauge pressure and underestimated it.
It thus seems highly likely that the Patriots equipment manager checked all 12 balls in a warm locker room and they lost pressure merely by cooling off on the field. In addition, the cold rain would have accelerated the heat transfer out of the balls. Finally, if the indoor inflation air was very humid, there would be an additional loss of pressure due to water vapor condensation on the inside of the bladder as the temperature of the football dropped.
——————————————————————–

Thanks for the technical analysis.
Oh wait-why didn’t this happen to the Colt’s balls?

Great math up above but there are too many environmental factors involved to make it impossible to accurately measure mathematically. Your math may work if it’s in constant conditions, but there are multiple footballs and those footballs are being handled frequently as noted above. The footballs that are not in play are being kept warm by personnel on the sideline. It’s not as if the football is just sitting there in the elements.

While the evidence thus far supports the conclusion that footballs that were under-inflated were used by the Patriots in the first half
——————————————————-
So this debunks the idea that 2=0.2 that has been coming from Boston lately

This shouldn’t be so hard…I mean how many people actually touched the balls after the ref checked and approved them 2 hours before the game? The stadium has cameras all over so they should have time lapse video evidence.

Pats fan here: This whole thing has been a complete joke and total waste of time and money spent chasing this witch hunt. This has generated as much if not more interest than the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson issues, and people were actually hurt in those instances.

“Upon being advised of the investigation, the Patriots promptly pledged their full cooperation and have made their personnel and other information available to us upon request.” -Except for Mr. Tom Brady & Mr. Bill Belichek

Whatever, i agree the game was going to be won by the patriots anyways but this cycle of cheating in New England continues year after year. For some reason Bill and Kraft move along like the franchise you are suppose to emulate and they continue to be let off the hook for breaking the rules.

I don’t believe for a second someone in that franchise goes over the head of Bill and Tom on any subject much less changing the balls the NFL refs already checked. That is tampering no matter how you look at the lopsided win and how did it change the game. How many other close games did they do the same thing?

I don’t care what anyone says they are changing the outcome of games and in this case the AFC Championship,,,,,,,,just a small game like that. And I hate Indy for the record.

People get lost in the Vegas Dessert for less. As for the NFL, don’t have the rule if it doesn’t matter like all the apologists are saying including Eisen today on his show. Take the rule out and use whatever you want.

“While the evidence thus far supports the conclusion that footballs that were under-inflated were used by the Patriots in the first half, the footballs were properly inflated for the second half and confirmed at the conclusion of the game to have remained properly inflated.”

I suppose physics only apply to the first half of games. 2nd halfs all bets are off!

I am a Patriots fan and given what we now know I think it’s pretty clear that the Patriots footballs were tampered with by someone before the game. I really don’t know how anyone could really argue with that now.

I still don’t think anything will happen because the NFL will not be able to find any hard evidence connecting the tampering to anyone in the Patriots.

But if they do have evidence, and they can prove that Tom and/or Bill are lying, then oh boy this is a huge problem.

For all the people saying why didn’t the Colts footballs fall below the threshold, first we don’t know that their start PSI was yet. We know that Pats are on the record for liking 12.5. If the Colts start PSI was near the high end that could be a reason their footballs remained above the threshold.

Of course that doesn’t account for why the balls in the 2nd half remained inflated. We need more info. Were all the 2nd half balls inflated to a higher PSI than 12.5? We need more info before jumping to massive conclusions.

Second, the Colts were tattling to the teacher. Of course they’d have their ducks in a row.

And, how do you explain that ALL TWELVE Colts balls were still properly inflated while ELEVEN of the Twelve Patriots balls were deflated? Was there a different atmosphere & physics on the Colts sideline? PLUS, all 12 Patriots balls used in the 2nd half mysteriously all ended the game properly inflated.

The indoor outdoor temp argument is hilarious. So ONLY the Patriots balls deflated AND one of them was immune to the laws of physics.

After reading the NFL statement if was a Patriot fan, I would be very worried. If a detective suspects wrongdoing, the detectives interview all the witnesses and then suspects LAST. You are looking for inconsistencies.

The forensic video evidence review is a very interesting. That indicates the possibility somebody erased something…

So I am trying this physics thing out using your example. If the Colts balls initially passed at 13.5. Would they not have an absolute pressure of 28.5 x 4.7%=1.34. So they would have measured at 12.16 given the variables you used. Can you let me know what I am missing? Thanks again. I am assuming before going through 40 interviews, the NFL had someone look into this being a possibility. I know, I know it is the NFL!!

“Prior to the game, the game officials inspect the footballs to be used by each team and confirm that this standard is satisfied, which was done before last Sunday’s game.”

What is the process and where are the documents to support this statement? The ref told them he checked and the balls were fine? Please, even Florio can’t think that’s enough. If there are documents with the pregame and halftime results per ball for both teams, and only the Pats’ changed by 2 lbs. between the tests, then this is very simple. It shouldn’t require more than 30 minutes to figure out, let alone more than a week and 40+ interviews. And it wouldn’t matter who/what/when/where/how. Either the Pats manipulated the balls after certification, or they did something so they’d pass and then lose pressure in the couple hours before game time, which would still be grounds for punishment simply for being stupid about it. But absent documented proof of the pregame and halftime measurements, you can conjure up all the smoke you want but there is no fire.

The answer is pretty simple. The Patriots fill their footballs with heated air to the minimum PSI, 12.5. As The air in the footballs cool the PSI will drop below the minimum it’s a gray area. I don’t know of any rule that specify what template air the balls are filled with only that they must be at 12.5 when inspected by the refs before the game.

“Aaron rodgers has already admitted to overinflating his balls, can we get his punishment dished out first please?”

This point is invalid. Yes, Rodgers admitd he liked his ball overinflated, but he said most don’t pass inspection and he just shrugs. The balls that were in play for the Patriots were considerably altered after the inspection. That’s the issue. The inspection was bypassed and the rules were violated.

One thing is for sure, nobody’s looking the other way on this deal… In fact, the NFL seems determined to leave no stone unturned here. I don’t expect them to find anything, but I’ll give Roger the A for effort on this one.

My guess is that the team knows Brady likes the balls flatter due to being easier to throw, catch, and not fumble in colder weather. Liking to bend the rules, knowing that the balls would deflate as temperatures lowered, they deliberately stored their balls in 90-100 degree temperatures just prior to the weighing. This would account for the 2 lb loss over the course of the game where the loss would be half of that measured at 75 degrees.

You may want to go revisit high school science, the 12 Colts balls were fine and would have lost pressure the same way if the weather was a factor. Someone tampered with the balls stop being a blind patsie.
———————————————————
The Colts are the ones who blew the whistle on the Patriots …… you don’t think they made sure their ducks were in a row before they did that????

Not to make any assumptions, but the weather explanation could hold true IF and only IF Andrew Luck prefers his footballs inflated to the top, like other QBs prefer (or over the limit, like Rodgers). The 2 PSI drop has been questioned in other reports, so it may also not be as severe as we thought.

Either way, I expect Belichick will take responsibility if there is wrongdoing by any staff. He was straight up blunt about his role in Spygate. He disagreed with the interpretation of the new rule at the time, but didn’t appeal and took it like a man.

I see lots of comments about the Colts balls being within the PSI allotment. What people fail to realize is the allotment is 12.5-13.5. If the Colts original PSI was 13.5 and the Pats was 12.5 doesn’t it stand to reason the Colts balls could remain within that allotment while the Pats balls fall below it?

Just saying the Colts balls passed is not evidence the Pats balls were illegal from the get go. You’d have to know what the PSI was in each ball beforehand to even use that argument. I have not seen a report that specifically tells us what PSI the Colts balls were measured at prior to the game.

This whole gang mentality is so out of hand. The hatred for this Pats team is beyond anything I’ve ever seen before and it just stuns me that people want to question everything about them when they all know the Pats are just better than most teams.
Does any reasonable person believe the Pats won by 38 point because the balls they used (in the 1st half only) were lower by 2PSI?

God help you if you ever get caught cheating on your taxes or get a speeding ticket because we all live in glass houses at some point in our lives.

Where in that statement did it say the balls dropped 2 psi? Where did it say 11 out of 12. My whole issue is the league is being very vague and not giving more specific details. I understand it is an ongoing investigation but tell us:
1. How/When were you notified something was wrong with the footballs? Who notified the league?
2. What actions did the league take after they were notified?
3. Did the refs properly inspect the balls and determine the exact weight and PSI and when did they turn the balls over to the Patriots?
4. How many balls were underinflated and by how much? How and when did they measure this?

Anyone else find it interesting that the Patriots* went from 10 fumbles on 470 carries in 2013 to 1 fumble (by Brady) on 438 carries this year. Hmmmm. I’ve read deflated footballs are easier to grasp and catch.

The official routinely check pressure, inflate and deflate balls prior to the game to get them to the prescribed pressure. (There is a video online that only a week ago only the mega-football junkie with way too much time on their hands would have bothered to watch showing this process by NFL officials.)

I suspect that the Patriots (specifically Brady) picked out their balls, which 11 of 12 were soft, then sent them down to the officials. The officials neglected to check the pressure and top them off with air but rather sent them out as game balls.

Being they passed inspections by the referee…who by rule is the sole judge of whether or not the balls comply…they are technically legal for the game. Since they were to have been under the supervision of the referee, there should not have been any way to manipulate the pressure, unless it was done on the sideline during play. (Highly doubtful.)

Sounds like the officials didn’t do their job. It’s been suggested that Aaron Rodgers sends over-inflated balls to the referee and sometimes they remove air. This is just the reverse, they were under-inflated but passed inspection.

.
NFL Statement Update ?
.
We are taking out time investigating,
.
1. We need to find a person willing to admit
they reduced the air pressure, and that neither
Brady nor Bellichek requested this.
.
2. They did it on their own, they simply wanted to help the team. they simply deflated 11 balls, the 12th was not they needed that for the kicker, kickoffs and punts, it would fly further.
.
3. They have to find the right amount of money and have lawyers draw up payment agreements and gag orders, so this person would never again speak about it.

–
As soon as we have our scapegoat and money lined up, we will make a final announcement.
.
Please bear with us through these difficult times.
.
.

Vegas is now making odds that the NFL will not make any conclusion with their investigation until long after the SB, so as to squash all the calls that will come in demanding both Brady and Bellichick are banned from playing in the SB.

There’s simply too much money riding on the SB for the NFL to suspend both Brady and Bellichick from the SB…The money….it’s always about the money. Integrity of the game be damned!

One ball was within the norm for the pats. interesting. I bet they punted and kicked with that ball. somebody had to know what ball that was to properly insert it into the game. Watch the tape and see who was bringing the ball into the game for fg’s and punts. Then go interview that guy. I bet you would get to the bottom of things quickly.

“And yet again another person ignores the fact that only 11 out of 12 dropped over 2 psi and 0 out of 36 other balls, including the Patriots backup balls, the Colts game balls and the Colts backup balls did not experience such a drop in pressure. So, unless they were keeping the Pats game balls somewhere with completely different conditions than the rest of the field, there is no way the conditions would only affect those 11 balls.”

He also failed to notice that the officials inflated the balls at halftime and at the end of the game found that they maintained their pressure. The temperature/conditions had no effect on the balls during the second half, nor the Colts’ balls during the entire game, so the argument that the balls naturally deflated during the first half doesn’t hold water.

Why isn’t anyone else bringing up sabotage? It’s not totally illogical. There are many people who’d love to see the Pats go down, specifically the Baltimore Ravens. Harbaugh is still angry that he got schooled by the Patriot’s trick plays the other week. You think he wouldn’t try something to get back at them??

Read that statement and in some way add the words “underinflated footballs” to the end of each sentence.

Now that you’ve done that, read it out loud and realize you’re losing your mind over underinflated footballs…multiple law firms are investigating underinflated footballs….a multi-billion $ league is at a stand still news wise over underinflated footballs….

They tried to cheat + they got caught + a little perspective = yes it’s bad but it isn’t nearly THIS BAD.

They’re the cheaters that get caught but they aren’t the only ones. Much like Michael Sam isn’t the only one in the last 30 years they aren’t the only team trying to cheat. It’s true no matter how bad you want it to only be the Patriots…if we kick people from the league for this are you gonna say the same for your team when it’s found out they..say…warm up receiver gloves to make them more tacky? Or when the guy that everyone knows every team has get’s caught looking at signals? Teams have signals because they can’t trust each other to not look when they yell “OFF TACKLE LEFT”. Yeah…no one else is trying to get an advatage…no one.

Would love to see the Pats score two quick TD’s. Have BB take his headphones off, Tom take his jersey off, and walk off the field. Then the Pats run the score up on the Seahawks with Josh McDaniels and Jimmy Garopolo.

You may want to go revisit high school science, the 12 Colts balls were fine and would have lost pressure the same way if the weather was a factor. Someone tampered with the balls stop being a blind patsie.

So you have first hand knowledge of exactly where each team inflated their balls?

Has anyone considered that the Colts filled their balls in a walk in freezer, while the Patriots filled theirs in a sauna?

In all seriousness……
Divide the pressure in the football, by the pressure to get back to the Super Bowl, take that times the number of sociopath coaches you have standing on the sidelines, add the smug smirks that Brady gave when originally questioned about the issue, then divide that by how many people expected Belichick or Brady to take any responsibility for this, even as meticulous as they both seem with every other detail when preparing for a game. You get zero.

Which is the same punishment I expect to be handed down. Not due to a conspiracy, but they have become better at breaking rules. If we get caught, we have no earthly idea how it happened. The league won’t be able to prove otherwise.

Even if found at fault, what recourse is there? Draft Picks and a fine is about all that would result, at the most. My guess is that there will be no conclusive evidence and no single person to blame…..Hence, no action to be taken except a team penalty, which likely will be monetary.

Closer control of the balls will certainly be a future issue with teams playing the Patriots, starting with the SB.

No where in this statement does it confirm the report of -2psi in the balls nor does it confirm how many balls were underinflated.

It also doesn’t clear up if the ref’s in fact checked every ball prior to the game with a pressure gauge (which I highly doubt they did). The ball boy likely filled up the balls, gave them to Brady squeezed them, said OK, then they go to the refs, who squeeze them, look them over and mark them.

The reason the Colts balls weren’t under inflated could be because Luck prefers more inflation (just like Rodgers admitted).

My guess is the Ravens and/or Colts whined to the league, trying to pick out anything questionable, and see if it stuck. Could they technically have been under? Yes, but would the refs know exactly? No. I’m sure before every game this season no matter where the location, there wasn’t a ref taking the time to measure the pressure in each ball.

01/22/15 (minutes after Golden Boys speak to media) – Owners: “Hey, we are the owners & we pay you squires to handle these things. But someone needs to pacify these millions of idiots who don’t understand that this is OUR business & we will run it as INEFFECTIVELY as we choose…as long as we get PAID $$$! Make it RAIN Super Bowl!!!”

01/22/15 (minutes after Golden Boys speak to media) – Lawyers: “Here, give us the pen. Between the hundreds of us, We are confident we can script something that will cover all the bases while not really answering a damn thing. And we will certainly do all we can to give you all the time you need to protect your precious Golden Boys & Super Bowl Golden egg…”

No one has yet provided what the start psi (and room temp) was for all the balls (colts and patriots) and no one has provided the end results of the balls (colts and patriots).

Until then, everything is conjecture. Unless someone recorded each ball’s psi both before and after the game (or at halftime), there is no way to know how each ball was affected by the weather.

Again, you cannot accurately measure each ball to 2 psi low, it is impossible, the air pressure gauges are not that accurate or precise. Besides, how would someone on the sidelines do this? The officials keep the balls until 15 minutes before kickoff and then give the balls to the ball boy. If someone can accurately take out 2 psi from every ball, this person should be doing a magic show in Vegas.

I find it both funny & quite interesting that the game was relatively close thru the 1st half of the game & once the footballs were checked & inflated to proper PSI the colts then got destroyed…. If I were them I’d be pissed they even brought it up….Patriots are the best & it just kills everyone that their teams just flat out can’t compete….
Stay focused on the big picture Patriots & bring home the Lombardi while the T M Z press continues it’s witch hunt to AGAIN make a mountain out of a mole hill… So sad!!!

“I suspect that the Patriots (specifically Brady) picked out their balls, which 11 of 12 were soft, then sent them down to the officials. The officials neglected to check the pressure and top them off with air but rather sent them out as game balls.”

Since the colts balls saw very little action. They were kept on a warm bench. Possible. Too many variable from where they were kept on the field, starting pressure, number of plays used. How many times over sized men fell on them.

********
The effect of temperature on football inflation.
Assume that the game footballs were inflated in a 75 F degree locker room, then taken out to a playing field at a temperature of 50 degrees F. How much would the change in temperature decrease the pressure in the football?
High school physics tells us that the ideal gas law PV=nRT applies. That is, pressure times volume is equal to the number of moles times the gas constant times the temperature of the gas (in degrees Kelvin). Thus, given a constant amount of air in the football and a negligible volume change, the pressure will obey:
P = nRT/V
The change in pressure is thus proportional to the change in temperature,
The 75 degree locker room has an absolute temperature of 297o K
The 40 degree playing field has an absolute temperature of 283o K
The change in temperature of 14o K will thus cause a drop in pressure of 14/297 = 4.7%.
To translate this into a pressure change we must recall that football pressure is measured in gauge pressure, relative to the atmospheric pressure of 15 psi. So the absolute pressure within a football pumped to 13 psi is 13 +15 = 28psi absolute. The 4.7% drop applied to the absolute pressure gives a drop of 1.32 psi. Thus, the pressure within the football at game time will be only 13 -1.32 = 11.68 psi and thus well below regulation gauge pressure of 12.5-13.5psi. If they were just at 12.5psi to start they would be down by 1.3psi to 11.2psi by game time. And of course, a little pressure is lost every time you stick a needle in to check the pressure. Some guy on TV did this calculation but I think he forgot about absolute pressure vs gauge pressure and underestimated it.
It thus seems highly likely that the Patriots equipment manager checked all 12 balls in a warm locker room and they lost pressure merely by cooling off on the field. In addition, the cold rain would have accelerated the heat transfer out of the balls. Finally, if the indoor inflation air was very humid, there would be an additional loss of pressure due to water vapor condensation on the inside of the bladder as the temperature of the football dropped.
*********

The problem here is that the ideal gas law applies to all gasses all the time. 11 balls under inflated one not for the Pats and all 12 ok for the colts. PV=nRT does not explain that, but it does explain the “cloud” that forms in the neck of your beer bottle upon opening.

I think you are missing the point. Yes the Colt’s got beat, but what about a game like the Raven’s last week where it could have played a difference or in that case, games in the last ten years. You don’t cheat and then say it didn’t matter anyway. YOU CHEATED.

The question is if the NFL will come down hard on the patriots or chalk it up to lack of evidence when everyone (except Pats fans) no that someone on the Patriots staff altered the balls after the official check. My feeling is that the NFL will fine Belichick and possibly suspension if they don’t have physical or verbal evidence. But if someone comes forward or they got it on tape than I expect Belichick to be ban from the NFL for life.

“Our investigation will seek information from any and all relevant sources, and we expect full cooperation from other clubs as well.”
=================
Start with the Packers, Vikings, and Panthers, then go to the Colts and Ravens.

I have no ox to gore re: Deflategate; just an observation. The NFL has completely messed this up. The internet, and blog sites like this, are the modern-day equivalent of pitch-forks and torches. It mob rule at its worst. The NFL has allowed a $25,000 fine-type infraction, (roughly the same as a fine for roughing the QB), to blow up into the biggest sports story in North America, and maybe the biggest in this century. Deflategate will ruin the Super Bowl for EVERYONE. It will forever tarnish the game itself and will call into question games for the foreseeable future. Goodell has zero crisis-management skills. Deflategate is the proverbial mole hill turned into a mountain. What a disaster for the league and the game I love. Goodell has to be the worst commissioner of any professional sports league in the last 100 years. The owners have only themselves to blame. They’ve allowed this incompetent commissioner to keep his job because the owners are all making money like never before and Goodell apparently played a large role in that. Greed is one of the 7 deadly sins for a reason.

For what its worth, the NFL does not need a smoking gun if, (and that’s a big ‘if’) the Patriots’ footballs were inspected and approved precisely according to the rules. If that is the case then at sometime between the original inspection and half-time the footballs lost more air pressure than can be reasonably explained. All during that time, those footballs were in the exclusive possession and control of the Patriots. As a result, someone affiliated with the Patriots organization tampered with the footballs. This is not complicated. The Latin phrase is Res Ipsa Loquitor. The thing speaks for itself. No proof is needed that either Brady or Belichick knew about it. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. Who knows? Who cares? Why you ask? Because the infraction (and there was an infraction if the footballs were pressurized below league standards) is MINOR. How do I know that? Because the fine is $25,000. A lot of money to me but chump change by NFL standards. If it was actually a serious infraction of the rules a far more severe penalty would be spelled out in this particular section of the rules.

This who affair could have been settled INTERNALLY by a small fine and an interoffice memo to all teams reminding them not to tamper with the footballs after final inspection by the referees. The offending Patriots would have been reprimanded, the whistle-blowing team (if there even is one) will have been vindicated and we all could go on to looking forward to the Super Bowl and all future games.

Instead, we get to listen to ‘experts’ bloviate and the NFL is calling into question the “integrity of the game”. I assume the league doesn’t mean the AFCCG because it is beyond any doubt that the infraction had no affect on that game. Why would the league shoot itself in the foot like this, then re-load and shoot itself in the other foot?

For those who are calling the Colts tattletales, I’ve got news for you. You’re right. Here’s the progression. D’Qwell Jackson intercepted Tom Brady in the 2nd quarter. Jackson wanted the football as a souvenir and gave it to a member of the Colts equipment staff to keep for him. The staff member noticed the football was underinflated and told coach Chuck Pagano. Pagano called upstairs and told Colts general manager, Ryan Grigson. Grigson contacted Mike Kensil, NFL director of football operations. Kensil told the on-field officials at halftime and and the footballs were pulled and checked. But now reports are coming out the NFL was already running a sting operation on the Patriots and those footballs were going to be pulled at halftime anyway to be checked. Whether that’s true or not time will tell.

Just trying to find a new rug to sweep this under since the one they have is touching the ceiling now. Funny how all the Pats fans are math and science wiz’s now, but then again they just kip over the fact that

1) The game balls were tested and found to be within the NFL standards before the game.

2) At the end of the half, 11-12 Pat footballs were underinflated by 2 pounds of pressure.

3) Why were the Colts footballs not effected to that extent at the end of the half or game?

4) Why were the Pat footballs not effected to the same extent at the end of the game after the correct amount of air was put back into the footballs at the half?

I’m sure that our feeble minds can’t figure it out. So if any of you incredibly smart Pat fans can help us less fourtunate, feeble minded, lowly fans of other teams out….that’d be great…..oh go ahead…..we’ll wait.

That’s an incredibly long and detailed post to not even attempt to explain how one of the 12 Patriot balls was just fine and apparently none of the Colt balls were low. Until you can explain that basic inconsistency the science lessons on air pressure are pointless.

So I guess the balls used by the Colts would also be under-inflated? And the balls used in Green Bay and Chicago and Minnesota for late-year games are basically pancakes? The mathematical explanations don’t match up with years of experience, because then this would happen all the time.

There’s an explanation. We don’t know what that is yet, but while I respect math, it doesn’t add up (yuk, yuk, yuk). Run an experiement. Inflate some balls to 12.5 PSI in Chicago this weekend then let them sit outside for a while and see what happens. If they don’t lose pressure, that’s not an explanation.

The atmosphere concerning this investigation is too poisoned at the current time for the NFL to render a fair and reasoned response. They are wise to consider all information and scenarios before allowing this very public lynching to color their verdict.

danyod says:
Jan 23, 2015 1:49 PM
The effect of temperature on football inflation.
Assume that the game footballs were inflated in a 75 F degree locker room, then taken out to a playing field at a temperature of 50 degrees F. How much would the change in temperature decrease the pressure in the football?
High school physics tells us that the ideal gas law PV=nRT applies. That is, pressure times volume is equal to the number of moles times the gas constant times the temperature of the gas (in degrees Kelvin). Thus, given a constant amount of air in the football and a negligible volume change, the pressure will obey:
P = nRT/V
The change in pressure is thus proportional to the change in temperature,
The 75 degree locker room has an absolute temperature of 297o K
The 40 degree playing field has an absolute temperature of 283o K
The change in temperature of 14o K will thus cause a drop in pressure of 14/297 = 4.7%.
To translate this into a pressure change we must recall that football pressure is measured in gauge pressure, relative to the atmospheric pressure of 15 psi. So the absolute pressure within a football pumped to 13 psi is 13 +15 = 28psi absolute. The 4.7% drop applied to the absolute pressure gives a drop of 1.32 psi. Thus, the pressure within the football at game time will be only 13 -1.32 = 11.68 psi and thus well below regulation gauge pressure of 12.5-13.5psi. If they were just at 12.5psi to start they would be down by 1.3psi to 11.2psi by game time. And of course, a little pressure is lost every time you stick a needle in to check the pressure. Some guy on TV did this calculation but I think he forgot about absolute pressure vs gauge pressure and underestimated it.
It thus seems highly likely that the Patriots equipment manager checked all 12 balls in a warm locker room and they lost pressure merely by cooling off on the field. In addition, the cold rain would have accelerated the heat transfer out of the balls. Finally, if the indoor inflation air was very humid, there would be an additional loss of pressure due to water vapor condensation on the inside of the bladder as the temperature of the football dropped.

And yet again another person ignores the fact that only 11 out of 12 dropped over 2 psi and 0 out of 36 other balls, including the Patriots backup balls, the Colts game balls and the Colts backup balls did not experience such a drop in pressure. So, unless they were keeping the Pats game balls somewhere with completely different conditions than the rest of the field, there is no way the conditions would only affect those 11 balls.
———————————————————
That’s EXACTLY what they said…. the Patriots second half balls were still indoors.

For those who are questioning why the Colts balls were not equally deflated.

1: Each team inflates their footballs within a range of 12.5 to 13.5 PSI, depending on who their QB likes it. We know Brady likes his footballs towards the low end. We haven’t heard a word about how Luck likes his footballs. Perhaps they started with more air?

And more importantly.

2: The Colts instigated this. They knew the inspection was coming. They very easily could have put enough air into their footballs at the start of the game so that, even with temperature, time and environmental changes, they would still be within the limits.

This was not a surprise inspection of both teams. This was an ambush of a single team, instigated by their opponent and thus, a flawed process right from the start.

First off, the release states the balls were checked before the game and found to be ok. Second, the temp had nothing to do with losing that much air. Neither the Colts balls in the first half nor any balls in the second half experienced deflation. Therefore, you can only conclude that someone intentionally tampered with the the Pats balls after they were checked.

After spygate and this, I give the Pats no credit for any of their accomplishments since you cannot be sure they did not cheat. The football world will never put them on the same high professional level as the old Pack, Steelers, Cowboys or 49ers. You cant trust any Pats accimplishment to be real, no matter how many Super Bowls they may win. Their own fault.

Even the Patriots apologists can’t offer a math explanation without cheating. First paragraph he says inside is 75 degrees (really, people heat their locker rooms to 75 degrees? Not 70) and the field is 50 degrees.

But then when he goes to math calcs the field number is dropped to 40 degrees to give him extra allowance for deflation.

To all of you geniuses who are saying “Why weren’t the Colts balls deflated too, what, was the weather different on their side of the field:

No one from the league has SAID that the Colts balls didn’t deflate!!! What they said was that when tested at halftime, the Colts balls still met the minimum 12.5 PSI

If the Patriots STARTED the game at 12.5 PSI, and the Colts started at 13.5, and the weather caused a 1 PSI drop in BOTH, then the Patriots – at 11.5 PSI – would be below the minimum of 12.5 PSI, while the Colts would still be at the minimum of 12.5, because they STARTED at 13.5

Was that too hard for you people to fathom?????

The NFL needs to go public with what the Colts balls tested out to at halftime, because if they dropped the same amount as the Patriots balls, the world owes the Patriots a HUGE apology.

LOL! Sorry to burst the bubble of the first commenter’s deliberately fudged “scientific” analysis, but Evan Horowitz of no less than the Boston Globe ran the real numbers and equations 2 days ago (“Could weather have played a part in Deflategate?”–now online, see for yourself).

Horowitz came to the conclusion that a full pound of lost pressure could not be explained by the weather.

Weather can only account for about 20% of the pressure decline that was seen. To have the other 80% occur naturally they’d need to have tested the footballs when they were literally too hot to handle and/or the game would have had to of been an ice bowl situation. But taking a 70 degree football outside into 50 degree weather does not cause it to lose ~10% of the pressure. Simply doesn’t happen. Nor would the 12th ball magically be able to decide it wasn’t going to change in pressure at all while all 11 others did.

Brady used the Christmas Story excuse when asked…”Tom, do you know anything about the deflated footballs?” his response was “football, what’s a football?” And the league took that answer and was completely satisfied…case closed.

And for all you that using the idiotic “but the weather made them deflate” excuse…the Colts footballs were out in the same weather. Try something else, that one isn’t working.

I figure the patriots will simply pay off some lowly ball boy to say “it was me. I took it upon myself to deflate the balls, nobody else knew anything about it!” and then laugh all the way to the bank.

The balls were inspected and found to be within specs by the referees 2.5 hours before the game. The balls to be used are then in the custody of the refs until the start of the game. The problem with the balls was “discovered” sometime before the first half was over. With these things as the foundation, if the balls were tampered with the act had to have either happened during the playing of the first half in full view of thousands of people and cameras or it happened while the balls were in the custody of the refs before the game started. Hopefully the NFL is going to question the refs about not only the measuring process, but what their custody of the balls consisted of i.e were they ever out of sight/direct control of the referees during that time period.?
To me it is more likely that someone could deflate the balls by exactly the same amounts in the period leading up to the game and get away with it than to believe someone on the field could do this without being seen.

What a shame. Now even the NFL is a sham. Absolutely no desire to watch the Super Bowl. Media Day Tuesday will be nothing more than a gauntlet of reports asking “deflate-Gate” questions. The Pats cheated end of story. Thanks for ruining the Super Bowl. So sick of all of this controversy. Hate golf but here in Phoenix, the Open is the same weekend, I’ll be there…

The 75 degree locker room has an absolute temperature of 297o K
The 40 degree playing field has an absolute temperature of 283o K
===

2970K is above the melting point of almost all metals. If the locker rooms were that hot, there wouldn’t be any balls, players, or officials. I think you dropped a decimal place somewhere, but good try.

Todays NFL is just as scripted as a WWE wrestling match, there will be no revelation about deflategate, because it is a PR stunt for lemmings. Who are they going to throw under the bus? Some ballboy? After the Super Bowl this will all fade away.

seahawkboymike says:
Jan 23, 2015 2:16 PM
Only 2 people had motive, means and opportunity to deflate the footballs: Brady and his equipment manager.

Pats have fewest fumbles of any team in the NFL since 2010, by a margin so wide it cannot be coincidence or luck. They clearly have been deflating balls for years.
——————————————————————–
Only 2 people out of the hundred thousand or so people had motive, mand and opportunity. How do you know only 2 people?

A Patriot fumbles and he doesn’t play for 2 or 3 games. Might explain the players hanging onto the ball.

After @danyod was kind enough to explain the math that governs pressure as it relates to air temperature to us lay-people. I’m far less concerned with 11 balls that lost pressure than I am with the 1 ball that DEFIED THE LAWS OF PHYSICS (as stated by danyod, of course).

Forget the Colts balls being unaffected. How in the world did a single Patriots ball remain unaffected? I’ll bet it has something to do with string theory. Simply mind-bottling…

Can a rational person help me understand . So the NFL rules committee changed the game ball rule a couple of years ago after presentations by Manning and Brady asking QB’s be allowed to submit gameballs of their liking approved by the game officals, basically saying.. whatever you guys want within reason is fine. Score more points.. Scuff’em a lot, scuff em a little, only laces you like just so, break’em in them however you want is fine? However, they make (or leave) the air pressure tolerence so tight, it is technically and physically impossible to consistently comply. 13 psi +/- .5 psi ? That is what.. a +/- 3.5 % tolerance? No consideration is given in the rule to tempature, relative humidity, altitude, or barimeteric pressure. Stupid, just stupid.. They deserve everything they are getting. The air gauges the refs use are probably only accurate to 3%.. No wonder it has never come up, until the Colts whined of course.. So sucking for Luck doesn’t effect the integrity of the game, but drop 1 PSI and all hell breaks lose? How about pumping in crowd noise, or cranking up the thermostat for 2nd half of an AFC championship game?

LOL! Sorry to burst the bubble of the first commenter’s deliberately fudged “scientific” analysis, but Evan Horowitz of no less than the Boston Globe ran the real numbers and equations 2 days ago
===
Horowitz is a politics writer and his analysis ignores the possibility that the balls were preheated and the effects of condensation.

It is astonishing that so many people find this article worth writing a comment, so, I will be one of them. Believe it or not, there are more important things going on in the world than a controversy over deflated balls. If even a fraction of you obsessed football fans gave up watching a game or two and spent a little time doing something constructive, our country would be a better place. Would just a few of you examine your priorities? If you died today, would your last regret be that you did not see enough games? I do not give a tinker’s damn about the air pressure in footballs!

Ok so now the Pats fans are saying the science proving they couldn’t lose 1 lb let alone 2 due to these weather conditons is ignoring the possiblity that the balls were pre-heated by the patriots and the effect of condensation?

They are seriously saying this despite the fact that Bill Belichoke-turned-Belicheat himself has never had any interest whatsoever in the inflation level of balls, And Tawmy himself saying he has no idea how it happened.

Makes no mention of whether or not the balls were measured for pressure before the ggame, or if the officials merly gave them the ol squeeze check & eyeball check for irregularities. If all the balls were similar in feel, then it’s not surprising that they didn’t question them, nor why would they. If after some whining by the opposition, they checked the balls more thoroughly and foound them to be under inflated, then they aired them up and went back to business.

Hey skane2014, some of us manage to enjoy football while also being productive members of society. Hell, I manage to work 45ish hours per week at a well-paying job, follow current events, both domestic and abroad, and donate some of my time to worthy causes. That’s right! I can do ALL that and still be an “obsessed football fan.” It’s not a zero sum game, you patronizing, pretentious tool!

Here’s a link to a picture of a gauge similar to the one used by the officials in Peter King’s piece last year. It costs appox. $11.00. Or $8 if you buy more than 25. I wonder how much variance between one of these gauges and another. What happens if you drop it on the floor? Does accuracy change when ambient conditions such as temperature change? Do the officials have more than one? Did they use the same one before and after? Did they actually use a gauge during pre-game inspection, or just use the sight test?

Nobody has talked about adiabatic heating and cooling? If the balls were flat, and inflated to the lowest minimum pressure just prior to handing to the refs, the act of inflation alone would heat the air and ball. The greater the rate of fill, the greater the heating. People who fill scuba tanks and other pressurized vessels know about this. This could easily raise the internal temp of the ball above room temperature, which would lead to a greater temp difference and loss of pressure when moved outdoors.

Bottom line is that absent a confession or “irrefutable visual evidence”, there’s no way to explain this as a conspiracy to cheat. The fact that 11 balls were found to be under-inflated proves nothing. That is a fact, but it does not logically lead to cheating all by itself. Yes, it is unusual, but some people have won multiple lotteries against enormous odds, odds that amount to “impossible”. Doesn’t mean they cheated.

This is easy to sum up. The league refuses to face the facts until after the Super Bowl because of lost revenue. The Patriots, now apparently including their QB, think they are bigger than the game. The arrogance and clear thumbing their nose at integrity has happened before. I guess once a cheater, always a cheater. Finally, so glad I didn’t waste any money on this game. It will be least watched and most unenthusiastic game in a decade or more.

NFL should make all information relating to ball pressure measurement including time(s) of measurement, and any custody change for both teams available. Since we know from numerous posts that a temperature differential of over 20 degrees F will have a measurable effect on ball pressure, this information is necessary for a fair assessment.
If the Colt’s footballs were measured at halftime, when it is reported that the Patriot’s footballs were checked, it’s important to know what the average pressure was for those footballs, since a pressure reading near the top of the range (13.5 psi) would indicate that those footballs came into the game OVER-inflated.

This all reminds me of baseball players who fudged the rules:
Many pitchers all through baseballs history, even modern day ones like
Michael Pineda ejected for doctoring balls with a foreign substance on his neck
Mike Scott ejected for scuffing balls
Rick Rhoden ejected for scuffing balls
Joe Niekro ejected for scuffing balls
Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry who used spit and vaseline to doctor balls and wrote a book about it after he retired.
Hall of Famer Don Sutton who had a reputation for scuffing balls and in 1978 was ejected from a game for scuffing a ball.
Hall of Famer Whitey Ford cut the ball with his wedding ring or had catcher Elston Howard cut the ball on his shin guard.
Norm Cash admitted using a corked bat in the 1961 season.
Graig Nettles, Hall of Famer using a bat that broke and 6 superballs flew out.
Albert Belle who used corked bats.
Amos Otis admitted he used a corked bat most of his career.
Rick Honeycutt got caught with a tack taped to his finger for cutting balls.
Kevin Gross was caught with sandpaper in his glove.
Billy Hatcher was caught with a corked bat.
Sammy Sosa’s famous corked bat.
George Brett, Hall of Famer of the famous pine tar bat incident.
Then comes the host of human growth hormone cheaters who have pretty much been accepted in spite of their cheating.

The the underinflated footballs seems just like one of these cheaters. No one know yet who is really responsible for the footballs.

The people who intercepted Brady’s passes sure must have known the balls were underinflated and didn’t tell the refs. The professional NFL referees should have also noticed. As soon as this was noticed the game should have been stopped to check for the rules infractions right then. The Refs are almost as culpable as anyone else.

So if you use the temperature change logic wouldn’t the Colt’s balls have been deflated as well? On the other hand, the score was not close so in the words of Hillary “… what difference does it make?…”

as long as the great city of Las Vegas still stands, there can be no “integrity of the game”. There is no way what so ever that these people leave anything up to luck when there are millions upon millions of dollars on the line. Im tired of hearing about “for the integrity of the game”. Give me a break. There is a reason why the NFL is classified as “entertainment” and the MLB isnt. When you fix an MLB game, its illegal. If you fix an NFL game, it is not illegal. Your ticket buys you a seat to watch the entertainment.

The 2 psi loss has not been confirmed you nimrods. Just that they were below the approved level. So if the pats inflated to 12.5 before game and colts inflated to 13.5 and both teams balls lost 1 psi then guess what? Pats were outside the limit but colts were still legal. No where does it say that the colts balls did not lose psi. No where.

People with all of this temperature difference nonsense, please just stop. The Colts balls were tested at the end of the game and they remained within regulation PSI and weight. Also for those of you suggesting that the Colts balls were over inflated, those were also regulation. If in the pre-game check, the game balls are not close to 13psi the refs adjust the air pressure. SI posted a video of exactly the procedure refs go through with the balls before the game. If you haven’t seen it you should check it out. In fact, I’m willing to bet that balls for both teams were 13psi on the nose because the NFL was tipped off to the under inflation by the Pats previously. The AFC Championship game was a preplanned sting operation by the NFL, not a in the moment discovery.

So what are you suggesting? That the Colts’ footballs, which were NOT found you be deflated, defied the laws of physics? Come on man!

The New England Deflatriots are cheaters, plain n simple, which is the only explanation of how they managed beat the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX. (You just know N.E. stole our signals and adjusted accordingly after halftime with all those called screen passes every time they knew we were going to blitz.)

This latest cheating scandal just proves the Eagles shuda won that game, hands down, and deserve to be called Super Bowl champs.

I agree with a few people on here.. A Boycott is what I am doing. Hit the NFL where it counts there numbers. I wont watch these cheaters anymore. They have been cheating.. If Robert Kraft cared at all he would fire Bill. The Whole Organization is Dirty.

No one said that the Colts footballs were not deflated but that they were within the proper range. Second, no one knows their procedure for filling the footballs in the first place. Maybe they did them outside, eh?

As someone mention, when one tattles, whose to say that they did not double check as the info went up the line. It would seem just as possible, especially since as the news broke that this seems to be “normal” for most if not many of the teams out there.

Love how everyone knows absolutely for sure that Bill and Tom just stood there and lied. Where you there? Could you see all their body language?

It makes one wonder if the Pats do all this to the nth degree because of how fraudulent the idea of staying in the rules seems to be for the NFL. Does any one remember Brady always being on the injury list as probable. When asked, the coach stated he wanted to demonstrate how stupid the rules were regarding how one was to estimate a player’s injury. Also, was it not Bill Cowher, when asked why he did not grill Bellicheck about spygate in regard to the Steeler’s lost to the Pats that year, he stated, “well we all do it”.

Granted this does not excuse them for what they did and if tampering did occur the Pats should be punished as outlined in the rules. The idea one ought to fire them is ridiculous for then Aaron Rogers should be kicked out, teams that admitted should also fire their head coach and qb. One ought to be careful for what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

My understanding of science is that both sides of a question are measured. Did anyone check the pressure of the footballs the Colts were using?
To measure one side to the exclusion of the other, is not a proper experiment.

The NFL doesn’t care. They are just going to let this die out. We will be stuck with those idiots on ESPN standing on their soap box lecturing us. If this was happening and the Colts were informed a month before and said nothing, well then shame on them. They waited till it benefited them. They got their asses handed to them and the crying started.

There is more of a smoking gun here than Godell ever had against the Saints and he dealt harsh penalties. Plus the Patriots have shown repetitive tendencies toward football fairness by cheating to gain a competitive advantage. Billichick should be gone for a year, If he didn’t know about deflating he should have known. At least thats what Sean Payton was told before he was suspended. Players should be suspended starting now, starting with Brady. I would seriously consider not allowing the Patriots to play in the Superbowl if there were enough proof that the knowingly deflated balls to gain an advantage in the championship game. Further more and falling in line with previous punishments dealt by the commissioner draft picks need to be taken from the Patriots, #1 picks.
Does anyone think Roger is going to be consistent and deal harshness to the Pats or does he give them a slap on the risk? Godell will not go after the Pats in such manner because he had a personal vendetta in Bounty Gate and has never liked Sean Payton since Sean told him he would hire a player that had been in jail. And that it wasn’t Godell’s call to make.

NFL failed to specify temperature, humidity and barometric pressure at which ball inflation pressures are to be within specifications so they have no case. 79 F and 75% RH when inflated to 12.5 PSIG would have caused the pressure to drop to 10.5 PSIG at 44 F game temp. Simple application of ideal gas law with adjustment for water vapor condensation. They need to rewrite the flawed rule.

TEMPERATURE has NO EFFECT whatsoever, on football INFLATION. If the football is not leaking, then the same amount of air remains, until intentionally released. To measure the CORRECT level of inflation, you simply NORMALIZE the temperature of the football. When back at the original temperature, a football which is not leaking, will show EXACTLY THE SAME PRESSURE as it had when first filled. That method is used by anyone who is trying to obtain the OFFICIAL inflated pressure. So I’m sure the officials did just that, when they found 11 of 12 Patriot-side footballs to be 2 psi below the lower limit at half time. Roughing the ball or spiking the ball or dirtying the ball will not change the standardized internal pressure. When that pressure is more than 2 psi too low, even Tom Brady can tell the difference.

What if Belichick is telling the truth. No one altered the balls in any way once they were given to the officials. They did not have to. The NFL Rule states clearly the ball has to be inflated to 12 1/2 to 13 1/2 pounds pressure. No where does it state it has to be air or any other gas, or combination of gasses. What if Belichich or someone from the Pats figured out that a combination of gasses other than air, will allow the ball to lose it pressure faster or at a higher temperature than regular air. Belichich stays within the rules, but has once again found a way to gain an advantage. I hope some chemist or expert on gasses will prove this theory.